There are a lot of great reasons to have a dinner party. Eating, drinking and laughing your guts out with 6 of your closest friends ranks pretty high up there. I had full run of cooking for the first time in awhile, so I went big.

And now we are happy to have leftovers this week.

Edamame 'who-mus' and homemade pita chips

Meatless* MondayLeftover Edamame Hummus with homemade pita chips and veggies. Let me just say thatFIVE cups of edamame makes A LOT of hummus. I also learned that 'hummus' is pronounced closer to 'who-mus' rather than 'hum-us'. Someone will have eat the last bit of even-though-it-is-fish-it-is-not-considered-meatless misoyaki butterfish in the name of not wasting food. I will take one for the team today.

Rain and colder temperatures together with a busier-than-usual family and for for-hire client schedule mean dinner needs to be warm and made very efficiently.

Tortilla Soup. Fast, warm and happy.

Takeout MondayI was in San Francisco with a client until 10PM last night, so it was El Pollo Loco chicken by request for my Mother-in-Law. There is no El Pollo Loco in Hawaii so when she visits, this is a must-do.

TuesdayTortilla Soup, using the leftover El Pollo Loco chicken. We haven't had this in awhile. We have some absolutely bee-you-tee-ful homegrown avocado from a friend, as well as pepper jack cheese for sprinkling.

After two weeks of dine-out lunches and meandering about the San Francisco Bay area, Mom returned home to Hawaii. We sent her home with a suitcase full of Trader Joe's omiyage and a list of Korean tofu houses in Honolulu.

Now, it's back on my own. Mom's not one for spicy food, so we're adding a little more pep. Here's what I am cooking this week.

Rain is finally in the forecast in the Bay Area. In fact, I took my first rainy run this afternoon. These recipes have been stashed away with the flannel sheets and the household is looking forward to switching it up, at least for this week.

MondayChristine's Clam Chowder, Beer Bread and green salad. Even with store-bought tomatoes, this was The Perfect Meal for the first rain of the season. This time I used Kona Longboard Pale Ale for Beer Bread, which made a slightly sweet, very light caramel-colored bread.

TuesdayPortuguese Sausage Sticky Rice and a green salad. When we have 'heavy' main foods like clam chowder or sticky rice, I like to balance it off with a good light salad.

Aloha ThursdayI'm craving Hawaiian food so it's Crock Pot Kalua Pig, poi (which comes in on Thursdays at Imahara's in Cupertino), Okinawan Sweet Potatoes and some way to make lomi salmon or maybe just lomi tomatoes. I need to add a good lomi salmon to Feeding My Ohana

FridayMy Grandma's Meat and Macaroni. This is one of my all-time comfort foods. See how an first-generation Japanese Grandma rocks macaroni. Every last one of her grandkids loves this.

On Oahu, we always try to eat sweet potato haupia pie from Ani's Bakery. It's a slightly buttery/crunchy/nutty crust, a generous layer of rich purple Okinawan sweet potato filling, a layer of smooth, creamy/custardy haupia and topped with whipped cream. You will want to eat the Entire Pie, but this is Not a Good Idea. Very small slivers go a long way.

It's about $20 and sold only at their bakery in Halawa. If you don't order ahead, don't count on waltzing in and getting one. They sell 'em out nearly every day.

I've tried desperately and unsuccessfully to bring one back. A fresh pie is too unwieldy and perishable. When I asked if one could be frozen, "No" was the swift reply, with an "Are you lolo?!" (Hawaiian for insane *and* stupid) stink-eye, just for good measure.

Here's what ours looked like. We do get style points for the Stitch plate and more portable bar-style form factor, but we've got a lot to learn. I've already adjusted the Greenhouse recipe, and here's what we'll do next time.

Halve the amount of butter. The sweet potato flavor was completely overshadowed by just too much butter.

Cook the potatoes really well and mash until smooth. Potato chunks aren't good pie gestalt.

Nix the graham-cracker crust option. My daughter declared it not substantial enough against the sweet potato and haupia. And it adds even more butter taste.

If you use the Noh's haupia mix, do not let it harden before spreading it out on the pie. Our haupia topping looked more like cottage cheese, and while it tasted good, the texture was more like jello and definitely not the creamy texture of Ani's. Next time, haupia from scratch.

Click here for the updated recipe. Still Greenhouse material. Until we figure it out, go to Ani's and get your own.